Professor Charles West
M.A. (Cambridge), MPhil (Birmingham), Ph.D. (Cambridge)
Department of History
Professor in Medieval History
+44 114 222 2608
Full contact details
Department of History
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
- Profile
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I joined the Department of History as a lecturer in 2008, after studying in Birmingham, Cambridge and Oxford. I research and teach the history of Europe between the eighth and twelfth centuries.
My research has been supported by grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Humboldt Foundation and the British Academy, and I have held visiting fellowships at the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh.
- Research interests
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Medieval and Ancient Research Centre at the University of Sheffield
Current research
I research and write about European history, c. 700 – 1150. I am especially interested in studying the formation, development and transformation of cultural and political structures across this broad timeframe.
I am fascinated by the challenges of interpreting the notoriously enigmatic sources of the earlier Middle Ages. In my work I have sought to provide the richest readings possible to them across a range of genres: restoring authorial agendas, reading against the grain, and attempting to harness this evidence where possible to an early medieval history from below that is sensitive to political and social context, and open to comparative study.
I am also interested in the potential of new forms of technology for creating and sharing knowledge about the past.
My research has been supported by the AHRC, the British Academy and the Humboldt Stiftung. I am currently working on a book for Oxford University Press on eleventh-century Europe, and on a book for the University of Toronto Press on the Carolingian kingdom of Lotharingia. I am also the UK PI of an Anglo-German research project on local priests in post-Carolingian Europe, titled Priests in a Post Imperial World.
- Publications
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Books
- Neighbours and strangers. Manchester University Press.
- The divorce of King Lothar and Queen Theutberga: Hincmar of Rheims's De divortio. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
- Reframing the Feudal Revolution. Political and Social Transformation Between Marne and Moselle, c.800–c.1100.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Capetian France 987–1328. Routledge.
Edited books
- Writing the Early Medieval West. Cambridge University Press.
- Hincmar of Rheims: Life and Work. Manchester University Press.
Journal articles
- Interview with Chris Wickham [Intervista a Chris Wickham]. Reti Medievali Rivista, 23(1), 357-404. View this article in WRRO
- Hraban Maur, on honouring parents. 834. Mittelalter: Interdisziplinäre Forschung und Rezeptionsgeschichte, 5, 1-33. View this article in WRRO
- The simony crisis of the eleventh century and the ‘Letter of Guido’. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 73(2), 229-253. View this article in WRRO
- Pope Leo of Bourges, clerical immunity and the early medieval secular. Early Medieval Europe, 29(1), 86-108. View this article in WRRO
- "On the life and continence of judges": the production and transmission of imperial legislation in late Ottonian Italy. Mélanges de l’École française de Rome - Moyen Âge, 131(1), 87-117. View this article in WRRO
- Saints and Demons in the Carolingian Countryside. Vorträge und Forschungen, 87(Kleine Welten. Ländliche Gesellschaften im Karolingerreich), 67-99. View this article in WRRO
- Bishops between ‘Reforms’ in the Long Tenth century: The case of Verdun. The Medieval Low Countries, 6, 75-94. View this article in WRRO
- Quelle place pour l’ecclesia dans l’Europe médiévale?. Medievales, 74, 165-178. View this article in WRRO
- Religious Exemption in Pre-Modern Eurasia, c. 300-1300 CE. Medieval Worlds, 6, 2-6. View this article in WRRO
- Monks, Aristocrats, and Justice: Twelfth-Century Monastic Advocacy in a European Perspective. Speculum, 92(2), 372-404. View this article in WRRO
- nscribing property, rituals, and royal alliances: The ‘Theutberga Gospels’ and the Abbey of Remiremont. Mitteilungen des Instituts fur Osterreichische Geschichtsforschung, 124(2), 296-321. View this article in WRRO
- “Fratres, omni die videtis cum vadit istud regnum in perdicionem”: Abbo of Saint-Germain and the Crisis of 888. Reti Medievali Rivista, 17(2), 301-317. View this article in WRRO
- Visions in a Ninth-Century Village: an Early Medieval Microhistory. History Workshop Journal, 81(1), 1-16. View this article in WRRO
- Knowledge of the past and the judgement of history in tenth‐century Trier: Regino of Prüm and the lost manuscript of Bishop Adventius of Metz. Early Medieval Europe, 24(2), 137-159. View this article in WRRO
- Book Review: Owen M. Phelan, The Formation of Christian Europe: The Carolingians, Baptism and the Imperium Christianum. The Medieval History Journal, 19(1), 151-153.
- Lordship in Ninth-Century Francia: The Case of Bishop Hincmar of Laon and his Followers. Past and Present, 226(1), 3-40. View this article in WRRO
- Count Hugh of Troyes and the Territorial Principality in Early Twelfth-Century Western Europe. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW, 127(526), 523-548. View this article in WRRO
- Unauthorised miracles in mid-ninth-century Dijon and the Carolingian church reforms. Journal of Medieval History, 36(4), 295-311. View this article in WRRO
- The significance of the Carolingian advocate. Early Medieval Europe, 17(2), 186-206. View this article in WRRO
Chapters
- The “schism of 1054” and the politics of church reform in Lotharingia, c. 1100 In Kohl T (Ed.), Konflikt und Wandel um 1100 (pp. 195-207). De Gruyter
- Royal estates, confiscation and the politics of land in the kingdom of Otto I In Bougard F & Lore V (Ed.), Biens publics, biens du roi. Les bases économiques des pouvoirs royaux dans le haut Moyen Âge (pp. 155-175). View this article in WRRO
- “And how, if you are a Christian, can you hate the emperor?”. Reading a seventh-century scandal in Carolingian Francia’ In Kellermann K, Plassmann A & Schwermann C (Ed.), Criticising the ruler in pre-modern societies – possibilities, chances and methods (pp. 411-430). Bonn. View this article in WRRO
- Hincmar of Reims, Great Christian Jurists and Legal Collections in the First Millennium (pp. 429-443). Cambridge University Press
- 'Dissonance of speech, consonance of meaning': The 862 Council of Aachen and the transmission of Carolingian conciliar records In Screen E & West C (Ed.), Writing the Early Medieval West (pp. 169-182). Cambridge University Press View this article in WRRO
- Carolingian kingship and the peasants of Le Mans: the Capitulum in cenomannico pago datum In Große R & Sot M (Ed.), Charlemagne: les temps, les espaces, les hommes (pp. 227-244). Brepols View this article in WRRO
- ‘Dissonance of Speech, Consonance of Meaning’: The 862 Council of Aachen and the Transmission of Carolingian Conciliar Records, Writing the Early Medieval West (pp. 169-182).
- Hincmar's parish priests, Hincmar of Rheims (pp. 228-246).
- Competing for the Holy Spirit: Humbert of Moyenmoutier and the Question of Simony In Bougard F, Depreux P & Le Jan R (Ed.), Compétition et sacré au haut Moyen Âge: entre médiation et exclusion
- Le saint, le charpentier et le prêtre: l’Apparitio Sancti Vedasti et les élites dans la Francia du IXe siècle In Jegou L, Lienhard T & Schneider J (Ed.), Faire lien. Réseaux, aristocratie et échange compétitif au Moyen Âge. Mélanges en l’honneur de Régine Le Jan (pp. 237-245). View this article in WRRO
- Group formation in the long tenth century: a view from Trier and its region In Albrecht & Kleinjung (Ed.), Das lange 10. Jahrhundert – Struktureller Wandel zwischen Zentralisierung und Fragmentierung, äußerem Druck und innerer Krise (pp. 49-59). View this article in WRRO
- Meaning and context: Moringus the lay scribe and charter formulation in late-Carolingian Burgundy In McKinley & Jarrett (Ed.), Problems and Possibilities of Early Medieval Charters (pp. 71-87). View this article in WRRO
- All in the same boat? East Anglia, the North Sea world and the 1147 expedition to Lisbon In Bates D & Liddiard R (Ed.), East Anglia and Its North Sea World in the Middle Ages Boydell Press View this article in WRRO
- Dynastic Historical Writing In Foot S & Robinson C (Ed.), Oxford History of Historical Writing 600-1400 Oxford.
- Evaluating Conflict at Court: a West Frankish perspective In Becher M & Plassmann A (Ed.), Streit am Hof im frühen Mittelalter Ruprecht Gmbh & Company
- Urban populations and associations In Crick J & Houts EV (Ed.), A Social History of England, 900-1200 (pp. 198-207). Cambridge.
- Principautés et territoires, comtes et comtés In Gaillard M (Ed.), De la mer du Nord à la Méditerranée View this article in WRRO
- Legal culture in tenth-century Lotharingia In Rollason DWDW, Leyser C & Williams H (Ed.), England and the Continent in the Tenth Century Brepols Pub
- Exclusion et la paysannerie au XIe siècle au miroir des Versus de Unibove In Joye S (Ed.), Exclusion View this article in WRRO
Book reviews
- D’un regnum à l’autre: La Lotharingie, un espace de l’entre-deux?/Vom Regnum zum Imperium: Lotharingien als Zwischenreich?, ed. Tristan Martine and Jessika Nowak. The English Historical Review.
- Bern von der Reichenau, De nigromantia seu divinatione daemonum contemnenda. Ed. and trans. NielsBecker. Editiones Heidelbergenses 36. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter Heidelberg. 2017. 419 pp. €60. ISBN 978 3 8253 6838 8.Bern von Reichenau, De nigromantia seu divinatione daemonum contemnenda. Ed. and trans. Benedikt Marxreiter. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Studien und Texte 62. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. 2016. xviii + 174 pp. €36. ISBN 978 3 447 10747 1.. Early Medieval Europe, 27(4), 589-591.
- Heresy and dissent in the Carolingian empire. The case of Gottschalk of Orbais. By Matthew Bryan Gillis. Pp. x + 277. New York–Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. £65. 978 0 19 879758 6. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 69(3), 628-630.
- Richer of Saint-Remi. The Methods and Mentality of a Tenth-Century Historian. French History, 28(4), 591-592.
- Medievalist Enlightenment from Charles Perrault to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. French History, 28(2), 287-288.
- Power and Its Problems in Carolingian Europe. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW, 128(535), 1531-1532.
- Échanges, communications et réseaux dans le haut Moyen Âge. Études et textes offerts à Stéphane Lebecq. Edited by AlbanGautier and CélineMartin. Collection Haut Moyen Âge 14. Turnhout: Brepols. 2011. 296 pp. €55. ISBN 978 2 503 54335 2.. Early Medieval Europe, 21(4), 495-496.
- Peaceful Kings: Peace, Power, and the Early Medieval Political Imagination - By Paul Kershaw. History, 97(326), 303-304.
- Saint-Bénigne de Dijon en l'an mil, totius Galliae basilicis mirabilior. Interprétation politique, liturgique et théologique- By Carolyn Marino Malone. Early Medieval Europe, 20(1), 103-105.
- The Lombard League, 1164-1225. History: the journal of the Historical Association, 96(324), 499-499.
- Kirche und Kirchenrecht um 900. Die Bedeutung der spätkarolingischer Zeit für Tradition und Innovation im kirchlichen Recht - By Wilfried Hartmann. Early Medieval Europe, 19(2), 243-245.
- The Penitential State: Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious, 814-840. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW, 125(514), 673-675.
- Frankland. The Franks and the World of the Early Middle Ages. Essays in Honour of Dame Jinty Nelson – Edited by Paul Fouracre and David Ganz. Early Medieval Europe, 18(2), 231-232.
- Conrad II 990–1039: Emperor of Three Kingdoms – By Herwig Wolfram. Early Medieval Europe, 17(4), 469-470.
- Citizens to Lords: A Social History of Western Political Thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW, 124(509), 914-916.
- Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity. ENGL HIST REV, 124(508), 670-672.
- Struggle for empire: Kingship and conflict under Louis the German, 817-876. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW, 123(502), 695-696.
- Origo Gentis. Identitäts‐ und Legitimitätsstiftung in früh‐ und hochmittelalterlichen Herkunftserzählungen ‐ By Alheydis Plassmann. Early Medieval Europe, 16(2), 245-247.
- Political Culture in the Latin West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, C. 700–C. 1500. Global Intellectual History, 1-2.
Datasets
- Neighbours and strangers. Manchester University Press.
- Research group
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Research supervision
I welcome proposals for research projects in the field of early medieval European history.
- Current Students
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Primary Supervisor
- Completed Students
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- James Chetwood - Tom, Dick and Leofric: The Transformation of English Personal Naming, c.800-1300
- Alyx Mattison - The Execution and Burial of Criminals in Early Medieval England, c. 850-1150.
- Teaching interests
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I teach a range of medieval history courses, with a focus on Carolingian and eleventh-century European topics. At MA level, I teach a course on the theory and practice of editing Wikipedia.
- Teaching activities
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Undergraduate
- HST112 - Paths from Antiquity to Modernity
- HST116 - Empire: From the Ancient World to the Middle Ages
- HST2023 - 1066 And All That
- HST2520 - Revolution, Reform and Crusade in 11th-c. Europe
- HST3154/3155 - Breaking up (in) the Carolingian Empire
Postgraduate
- HST6089 - Wikipedia and Medieval History
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Early Medieval Europe - reviews editor
- Laboratoire de Medievistique Occidentale de Paris (LAMOP) - Associate Member
- Higher Education Academy - Fellow
- Humboldt Foundation - Fellow
- History Workshop Journal - editorial collective
- Reti Medievali Rivista - editorial board
- Royal Historical Society - Fellow
- Studies in the Early Middle Ages - editorial board
Previous administrative roles
- Director of Graduate Studies
- Senior Admissions Tutor, Level II tutor
- Public engagement
My public engagement takes several forms. I run an active Twitter account, and recently developed a podcast on eleventh-century Europe. From 2017, I began experimenting with integrating Wikipedia, the world’s largest encyclopedia, into my teaching, leading to the creation and improvement of many pages on medieval topics. These are read by thousands of people across the world each year.
In the past, I have also brokered public lecture series with Museums Sheffield (2011-12) and with Sheffield Cathedral (2016), set up the Witness Oral History project (2011-18), and contributed to an Arts Enterprise project on the medieval records of Tinsley. I have also talked about my research to public groups such as the University of the Third Age.
In the media
I have been interviewed on BBC Radio 4 and local radio stations, and have contributed to the department's History Matters blog. I have also written for The Conversation, History Today and the London Review of Books